Out of Character
by Yugoslavia
Summary: Ash wakes up in Mallow's treehouse after a sleepover. Normally there'd be some suspicion if a boy was sleeping over at a girl's house, but this is Ash Ketchum we're talking about.


The world around Ash was turning as the darkness of the dream faded from view and he stared up at the ceiling, staring at it until it stopped spinning. He blinked several times, staring at the ceiling until he realized what exactly it was he was looking at: it was the crossed, strutted boards of the clubhouse roof, wavering rays of sunlight shining in on it from a body of water nearby.

Feeling around him, his body silently fidgeting on the ground, Ash's arms felt the floor him until he put it together in his brain that he was lying on his back on the floor. Shifting his body little by little made him aware of just how sore he was—he had been laying on the wooden floorboards for a long time, totally asleep.

He had been lost in a dream. He couldn't remember what it was about.

Though Ash had initially felt like he could go right back to sleep—despite how uncomfortable he was on the ground there—he then immediately felt himself surging with energy. He was wide awake, ready to start the day.

A new day.

A weekday.

Ash was going to be late for school.

Ash immediately sat himself up—immediately regretting and wincing at the sudden rush of blood to his head. His back was stiff and sore, and as he sat upright and kept his legs sprawled across the floor, a numb and sleepy hand rubbing his eyes, he started to piece together where he was. With one good, open eye, he searched the room he was in—by the gentle, tropical breeze that was coming into the room, he knew it wasn't his own bedroom.

The room was circular, with wide open archways that overlooked the jungle and the small lake of water nearby. A few thick, sturdy branches stood up through openings in the floor and supported the nearby walls—clear hallmarks of a treehouse. A wide balcony wrapped around the outside of the circular room with ornate white guardrails that complimented the white-painted, quaint interior. Between two large posts, a grid-like section of frayed jungle rope made for a ladder that dropped down over the edge and dangled towards the ground far beneath. Inside the room were basic amenities, like a large hammock and several shelves with books and loose outdoor tools.

As Ash got to his feet, he looked to his side and looked through a window that had been cut out of one of the quaint, white-painted walls, made to be shaped like a heart. Through it, he could see someone leaning over the white balcony railing, looking out across the lake.

It was Mallow.

As Ash walked out of the clubhouse interior, his bare feet thumping on the tree-suspended floorboards, he nudged a cushion that had been placed between the archway and a slouching bookshelf. Pikachu had nestled himself in the plush material of the cushion, looking like a gigantic yellow marshmallow. His hat was sitting beside him like it had been stacked neatly and on purpose.

"Morning sleepyhead."

A pair of green sneakers appeared just in front of Ash's vision, capping a pair of coffee-colored legs. Though he recognized the legs, he recognized the voice, it took him several sleepy seconds to put together that it was Mallow. When he did, he finally looked up, coming face to face with her.

A dreamy expression had crossed Mallow's face, in stark contrast to her usual vividness. The same, wild smile she had was there, but her eyes were glowingly reserved. Though she looked well-rested, a pair of morning bags complimented her eyes, her features looking extra fresh from the morning.

"I didn't sleep in, did I?" asked Ash.

Mallow chuckled. "The only thing you slept through was me making breakfast," she grinned, dimples appearing at the corners. "Well, that, and me bathing in the lake..."

For a moment, a sensual look flashed through Mallow's eyes. It made Ash stop and consider whether it was real or whether it was something he had made up in his mind. As he thought to himself, Mallow then walked on and came close, her arm 'accidentally' brushing against his side as she pushed on through. It made Ash's posture stutter to the side as he regained standing—and then broke his train of thought. A blink broke through the blank expression he had been wearing, making him seem like he had suddenly emerged back into reality as he looked around, then turned himself.

Mallow had sauntered over to the hammock that hung close to the end of the wall, hung between two large tree branches that jutted through cut slots in the ground, holding up sections of the thatched roof overhead. A gentle sway had been in her step, appearing through her hips. Ash clearly hadn't been paying enough attention as he then realized that Mallow hadn't been fully dressed—the pink tank top that she wore was familiar, but the stone-colored overalls she wore typically were absent. Instead, beneath the pink tank top was a lime-green, flower-dotted bikini bottom that Ash had seen before, still darkened by the lake's water. Hanging over the edge of a long stretch of rope that suspended the hammock, she grabbed for the overalls that had been slung over, stretching them out and hunching over to step into them.

"We've still got a good half-hour to go before we need to leave," said Mallow. "I was thinking we could have a nice breakfast and, well, I don't know… hang out or something? Chat? Maybe have a Pokemon battle?"

Ash had been immensely confused by the scene unfolding in front of him, but his eyes were locked ahead of him as he stared at Mallow's fidgeting hips as they squirmed to fit into the tight, frayed ends of her overalls. Though he didn't realize it, her eyes were fixated on a dark, mole-like birthmark on her thigh, watching as it stretched and warped on the jiggling surface of her toned, dark thighs. When it moved a bit more, and as Ash realized it was actually a very tiny Bug-type Pokemon crawling up her leg, Ash's eyes widened when Mallow reached back and swatted at it with an audible, fleshy clap, sending ripples up and down her leg and elliciting a tiny groan from her.

When Ash looked up, Mallow was looking back. She looked surprised, a bit embarrassed, a bit indignant.

"Ash…?" Mallow was surprised, completely unsure of what to say.

"Hey, Mallow, wait a minute—" Ash spoke up. He was cut off as Mallow suddenly moved and her feet thudded on the floorboards beneath her.

Mallow quickly walked past Ash—this time purposefully avoiding him and not 'bumping' into him. As she did, she hastily pulled the long gray lengths of her overalls up over her shoulders, stretching them down and snapping them quickly into the metal clasps above her chest. She wheeled herself around indignantly at the end of the balcony, hopping down over the opening and landing on the first step of the ladder, walking herself down it quickly and disappearing out of sight.

Ash looked back, totally confused. He looked to the corner, where Pikachu was sitting up in his cushion, half-awake and half-aware of what was going on. He then followed, walking himself to the edge and looking over, looking down to where Mallow was.

At the bottom of the rope ladder, Mallow was standing at the base, covering her mouth with her hand. Though the top of her head, the jungle-colored lengths of her bangs that covered her head, Ash could see the small sliver of skin that was bright red with shame. Mallow's closed-in, stiff posture looked like she was in the middle of regretting something, like she was more angry with herself than Ash.

"Mallow…?"

Mallow immediately turned away and looked away, her arms hastily stuffing together as she hid what visible feelings she had from Ash.

With curled, resolved fist, Ash considered his options for only a second. He then stepped himself back and out of sight, moments before he took a few quick, sudden steps and came racing out and leaped over the edge—Pikachu hopping up behind him and latching onto his shoulder in mid-air. He dropped a short distance before he reached out for the rope ladder, gripping hard on it and sliding down a length to brake his momentum before he landed on his feet on the ground—Pikachu then immediately leaping off of him and landing nimbly on the ground in front of him.

Mallow was just staring at the ground ahead of herself, her intent stare momentarily broken when Pikachu ran out and appeared in front of her. She blinked, eyes wide when Pikachu stood up on his hindlegs in front of her, his round head cocking curiously to the side when he looked up and saw the silent distress on her face. One of his long ears batted down to the side as he grew worried—the cute display making Mallow grin.

Distracted, Mallow didn't hear Ash walking behind her and coming around from the side. It caught her off-guard, making her look up suddenly and over at Ash. He too looked worried when he saw her, trying to gauge what was going on with her.

"Mallow… Did I do something wrong…?"

Mallow looked reflective—something unusual for her. Her arms crossed behind her in a rare display of shyness, the toes of her sneakers digging into the mud in front of her and kicking a bit. Her lip twisted up as she struggled with the words, considering what she really wanted to say. When her wandering, rolling eyes finally looked up to Ash, her normal intensity returning, she broke into a big, toothy smile.

"Eheh… I guess I didn't… I assumed…" Mallow started, her head hanging down a bit. Her smile faltered as she struggled with what was evidently her own shyness.

"You didn't… Huh?" asked Ash, looking deeply confused. "I'm sorry Mallow, that doesn't make any sense..."

"I don't know—I mean—sometimes I like to tease you because I know you won't really do anything about it. If I tease Kiawe, he takes it as something… well… something other than what you would take it for. And I only teased Sophocles once—and then all this blood came out of his nose! Yuck! You're the only one who's fun to tease, Ash."

"Why don't you tease Lana or Lillie?" asked Ash. He still looked confused, even if he was following what Mallow was saying.

It took Mallow a few seconds to process that—even if she fully understood everything that Ash had said, it made absolutely no sense to her. She had looked away and stared off into space to process that, but when she looked into Ash's eyes she put everything together in her head—the look in Ash's eyes showed that he was serious.

Mallow then burst out laughing. She reached down to her stomach and clutched it for fear of it bursting out of her overalls with laughter. Her eyes were squeezed shut—almost painfully—with a big guffawing grin spread across her face. A lone tear dribbled out of the corner of her eye, forcing her to wipe it away as she kept laughing. The entire time she had become lost in hysterical laughing, her face beginning to turn a bright and peachy shade of red, Ash had been totally oblivious to any of it happening. When she peeked an eye open, looking over, the sight of Ash being completely out of the joke made her laugh even harder, forcing her to turn away for a moment.

"Mallow… Is something wrong…?"

"No… no… Eheheheh… I… Aha… I have a bug in my shoe… it's tickling me! I— _ahahaahaahaaa!_ "

"Hmmm… Must've been a lot of bugs in that clubhouse… Come to think of it, I thought I had felt a bug bite on my belly this morning…" Ash thought aloud. Down by his side, Pikachu looked between Ash and Mallow—with each turn of his head, the look of disbelief on his face grew even more intense, eventually to the point where he put his head in his paws.

"Oh yeah? I mean—ahahahaha… Oh Guardians—nhaahaha!"

"Yeah. I mean, I had just thought of it when I saw that bug crawling on your leg," said Ash.

Though Mallow had heard what Ash had said, she was still recovering from her bout of hysterical—non-tickling related laughter. She had turned away from Ash in an attempt to hide all the laughter that had been at his expense, one of her arms wrapped around her stomach and holding it closely while another reached up to wipe away the tears that had been in her eyes.

As Mallow straightened herself out, catching her breath and gaining her composure, a thought crossed her mind. Her thoughts lingered on what Ash had just said—remembering when she had smacked away the bug from her thigh, then thinking about what she had said right before it.

As she turned, looking back towards where Ash was, he was looking earnest—earnestly down at his stomach, where he had lifted up the edge of his blue and white striped shirt to expose the skin of his belly. He was reaching around, lookng for where on his stomach the scratch and supposed bug-bite had been; when he didn't find it, he looked around confused, checking around to the backside of his leg where other bug bites had been. When he finally looked up, he was surprised to see Mallow standing only a few feet away from him, looking on at him with a look of realization on her face—one that Ash couldn't decipher. For a moment, he looked back down at himself, wondering if there was something on him that had made him stareworthy, but when he looked back up Mallow was grinning.

"Did you get that bug in your shoe?" asked Ash, totally earnest.

Mallow had forgotten about the 'bug' she had made up. Instead, she started walking on towards Ash, then walking past him before taking Ash by the hand and walking him over and away from the base of the tree that held up the clubhouse.

"Ash, there was no bug," said Mallow.

Ash looked confused. Though he had been looking at where Mallow was holding his hand, he had turned his attention to Mallow as she stared ahead.

In front of them, a small 'kitchen' had been set up along the dirt path that ran around the treeless edge of the large lake in the center. A large picnic bench had been laid out with a checkered table cloth on the top of it. A tree stump (turned seat) had been set in front of a makeshift firepit, lined with rocks that had been covered in ash. Above it was a metal grate, set on sticks, and beside the tree stump Mallow had sat on during cooking was a large metal washbin filled with water, a pan half-submerged in it, handles for other cooking utensils sticking out of the top edge.

"Then… what were you laughing at…?"

Mallow smiled, somewhat wistfully. "I was laughing at myself," she lied. "I thought you had done something out of character, and, well… I guess I thought it was funny that I had reacted so… strangely…"

"Huh…" Ash said, acknowledgingly. As he looked over, staring at Mallow as she stared out at the tall mountains that stood tall and close to both them and the Alolan sky, he didn't just let it go. He kept staring, his brow becoming confused as he looked on at her.

Mallow looked disappointed.


End file.
